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"Moreover, you scorned our people, and compared the Albanese to sheep, and according to your custom think of us with insults. Nor have you shown yourself to have any knowledge of my race. Our elders were Epirotes, where this Pirro came from, whose force could scarcely support the Romans. This Pirro, who Taranto and many other places of Italy held back with armies. I do not have to speak for the Epiroti. They are very much stronger men than your Tarantini, a species of wet men who are born only to fish. If you want to say that Albania is part of Macedonia I would concede that a lot more of our ancestors were nobles who went as far as India under Alexander the Great and defeated all those peoples with incredible difficulty. From those men come these who you called sheep. But the nature of things is not changed. Why do your men run away in the faces of sheep?"

Letter from Skanderbeg to the Prince of Taranto ▬ Skanderbeg, October 31 1460

faqe 25-27
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------No, the Church had not very greatly altered the ancient customs of the people. They were all good Catholics, and attended mass. But they still buried the dead un-coffined, with three apples on the breast, and when they put a stone or a wooden slab above the grave they often carved on it, not only the cross, but also the sun.
One would note, too, that at the rising and setting of the sun they made the sign of the cross to it.
He was not too intolerant of these things. After all, beyond the sun was always the good God. It was not strange that what i had heard of the marriage customs had baffled me, he said: I should not look for traces of marriage by capture or marriage by purchase: the basis of the tribal ceremonies is fire worship.
On the day of the wedding the bride, elaborately dressed, is carried, screaming and struggling, from her father's house, and by her brothers is delivered to the husband's family at a place midway between the lands of the two tribes. Since each tribe is technically a large family, claiming a common prehistoric ancestor, it is forbidden to marry within the tribe. The bride carries with her from her home one invariable gift -- a pair of fire tongs.
When she arrives at her husband's house she takes a humble place in the corner, standing, her hands folded on her breast, her eyes downcast, and for three days and nights she is required to remain in that position without lifting her eyes, without moving, and without eating or drinking.
''Though i believe,'' said the bishop, smiling, ''that she takes the precaution of hiding some food and drink in her garments, and no doubt the mother-in-law sees that she is allowed to rest a little while the household is asleep.''
And he explained that this custom remains from the old days when the father of each house was also the priestly guardian of the fire, and anyone coming to ask for a light from it stood reverently in that position, silent, before the hearth, until the father priest gave it to him.
The bride new-comer in the family, is a suppliant for the gift of fire, of life, of the Mystery that continues the race.
On the third day she puts on the heavy belt that means she is a wife, and thereafter she goes about the household, obeying the commands of the elders, always standing until they tell her to sit, and for six months not speaking unless they address her. And it is her duty to care for the fire, and with her fire tongs to light the cigarettes smoked by any of the family, or by their guests. Sometime, when it is convenient, she and her husband will go to the church and be married by the priest. Usually she
has not seen her husband until she comes to this house, since she is of another tribe and the marriage is arranged by the families.
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Hestia is the Greek goddess of the hearth, one of the original Twelve Olympians. Cronus’ and Rhea’s first-born child, she was pure and peaceful. However, since she always had to stay at home, tending the fireplace, Hestia is not involved in many myths. Consequently, at a later stage, she would be replaced in the Pantheon with the much wilder Dionysus.

Since fire is a pure and a purifying element, Hestia was worshipped as a virgin goddess. And they say that she became a virgin in order to keep the peace at Olympus. Namely, both Apollo and Poseidon wanted to marry her; fearing that choosing either of them may result in turmoil, Hestia swore to an eternal virginity by placing her hand on Zeus’ head. As a reward for maintaining the order and in place of marriage, Zeus granted her the central place in the house and the first and richest portion of humans’ divine offerings.

Hestia at Home
Gentle and peace-loving, Hestia doesn’t appear in too many myths other than these two. Plato says that this is because she has to remain in the house of the gods, all alone, tending the eternal celestial fire even when all the other Olympians ritually pass in processions through heavens. This is both her privilege and her predicament.

Consequently, Hestia’s only manifestation among humans was the crackling of the fire. Aristotle says that it is the sound of the goddess laughing.

When she arrives at her husband's house she takes a humble place in the corner, standing, her hands folded on her breast, her eyes downcast, and for three days and nights she is required to remain in that position without lifting her eyes, without moving, and without eating or drinking.